Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm.[1] The firm is located in Menlo Park, California and mainly focuses on the technology industry.[2] It has backed companies that now control $1.4 trillion of the combined stock market value.[3] Sequoia manages multiple investment funds including funds specific to India,[4] Israel,[5] and China.[6]

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Sequoia was founded by Don Valentine in 1972[7] in Menlo Park, California. In the mid-1990s, Valentine gave control of the company to Doug Leone and Michael Moritz.[3] In 1999, Sequoia expanded its operations to Israel.[8] Sequoia Capital China was established in 2005 as an affiliate to the U.S. firm.[9] In 2006, Sequoia Capital acquired Westbridge Capital Partners, an Indian venture capital firm. It later was renamed Sequoia Capital India.[10] CB Insights recognized Sequoia Capital as the number one venture capital firm in 2013.[11]

In 2015, Sequoia drew criticism[13][14] after Moritz responded to questions about why the U.S. firm had never had a female investing partner by saying Sequoia was looking for women to hire, but "[w]hat we’re not prepared to do is to lower our standards."[15] Members of the media, technology and investment communities criticized the statements as suggesting "smart, driven, capable young women interested in working in technology...don’t exist."[16] Moritz subsequently issued a statement saying, "I know there are many remarkable women who would flourish in the venture business" and said the firm was working to find them.[17]

In 2016, Sequoia hired Polyvore CEO Jess Lee, 33, as an investing partner, making her Sequoia's first female investing partner[18] as well as one of its youngest partners.[12]

The firm invests in both public and private companies. It specializes in incubation, seed stage, startup stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies.[19]

The company invests mainly in companies based in the United States for early and seed stage investments. It invests between $100,000 and $1 million in seed stage, between $1 million and $10 million in early stage, and between $10 million and $100 million in growth stage.[20]